2018 Summer Road Trip: Days 11-12

We left St. Louis and headed down to Dallas. We figured if we were driving all the way to Indianapolis and then stopping in St. Louis on the way home, Dallas was only a 10-hour detour, so why not? (And I know a few of you are thinking, "Because 10 hours is a long drive, you crazy lady," but when you road trip like we do, what's 10 more hours?) My family lives in Dallas, and we hadn't been there since October 2016.

We played at my brother's house all day on Day 11. Felicia's real-life middle-name is my mom's first name, so it was great for them to finally meet. My baby wasn't shy at all, which was nice for my parents to see what she's really like.

My brother's kids and my kids played and played and played and played together. Trixie and my brother's daughter are just a couple of months apart, so it was fun for them to play together.

Trixie also loved my brother's cat, Samuel L. Catson.

My brother's son was also there, but he hates pictures of himself, so I don't have any.

The next day we went to the Dallas Arboretum, another venue that has free admission with our Thanksgiving Point memberships. (We even got my parents in for free!) Despite my mom having lived in Dallas since like, 1975, she had never been to the Arboretum until this trip! She really liked it.

It was good for my kids (especially my older kids) to have more time with my parents. They don't get much time together, so this was special.

That evening we met up with my sister and her girlfriend at their apartment, but I have no pictures (fail!). It was great for me to meet my sister's girlfriend. I can tell my sister is really happy in her life right now, happier than I've seen her in a long time, and that made me really happy. (Also, because Trixie is obsessed with animals, she was obsessed with my sister's dog, and my sister's dog was not having it.)

While we were in Dallas we stayed with another of Eric's cousins who moved to Dallas in the spring. Our kids love playing together (and their dog likes kids, so Trixie got to chase "Moffy" around endlessly.) (His real name is Murphy and he's an incredibly patient dog.) Felicia got to eat lots of dog food so she also is a big fan of the dog.

Their oldest kid is Luke, and he loves babies. Last summer when we got together with this family, Luke wanted to hold Felicia endlessly. Then when their family was visiting Utah this summer, we saw them twice, and again, Luke wanted to hold Felicia. He was glad to get a few more snuggles in while we visited them, and I was glad to finally get a picture of this sweet baby-loving boy. (Although, for the record, I don't think he's always loved babies. I heard a story that when twin siblings were born he asked his mom if maybe next time they could just have one baby at a time instead of two.)